MASSIVE CORRUPTION, GROSS FISCAL AND ECONOMIC
MISMANAGEMENT
UNDER DUTERTE
Massive
corruption together with gross fiscal and economic mismanagement bode darkly
for the economic future of the Philippines. All around are signs of massive
corruption under the Duterte administration as well as bad governance, specifically, the fiscal and economic aspects.
Debt
in itself is not bad, but if it is combined with massive corruption and ill-advised,
obtuse, and profligate spending, it is dangerous, worrisome, and deeply unsettling.
1.
Massive Corruption
The
Corrupt Rodrigo Duterte
By:
Antonio Montalvan II - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:05 AM August 1
“Inciting
to Corruption,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:07 AM August 14, 2019
“Probe Kaliwa Dam Bidding,” Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:35 AM August 23, 2019:
It’s
a corruption bonanza in this administration. Why? Because he tells public
officers it’s okay to accept gifts, he reappoints those who engage in corrupt
practices, and he’s corrupt himself.
Nuelle,
@nuelleduterte
Philippine
Daily Inquirer (September 2, 2019)
Lacson:
P20-B Pork in 2020 Budget
By:
Marlon Ramos - Reporter / @MRamosINQ
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:58 AM November 05, 2019
LACSON
BARES LAST MINUTE INSERTIONS IN 2020 BUDGET
By:
Maila Ager - Reporter / @MAgerINQINQUIRER.net / 11:43 AM December 11, 2019
MANILA,
Philippines — Senator Panfilo Lacson exposed…last-minute insertions allegedly
made by the House of Representatives before the congressional bicameral
conference committee signed the 2020 budget Wednesday.
Lacson
said the House insertions could reach P83-billion worth of projects, or even
more.
…his
office received a USB containing two files— the “Source” file and the “List”
file—from the House Tuesday night.
“Our
preliminary scrutiny of the last minute insertions made by the House would
indicate that the Source File is the list of 1,253 budget items worth P83.219B
that was apparently used as the congressmen’s ‘source’ of their ‘list’ of 742
projects worth P16.345B that were inserted in the bicam report that was signed
by both panels this morning,” Lacson also said in his text message.
“…What
is clear…is that there are still lump
sums and vaguely described projects
that are now part of the bicam report,” he added.
SALN
STONEWALLING
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:08 AM December 17, 2019
According
to a report last week by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism,
President Duterte has yet to publicly disclose his 2018 statement of assets,
liabilities and net worth (SALN) — eight months after the deadline for filing
last April 30, and despite repeated requests by the news organization for its
copy.
That
makes Mr. Duterte, the PCIJ noted, the first
president in 30 years, or since the law on the filing of SALNs was enacted in
1989, not to make the required public disclosure of the document.
The
PCIJ said it had filed a series of requests for a copy of the President’s SALN
from June to November this year, but these requests were allegedly tossed back
and forth between the Ombudsman and the Office of the Executive Secretary.
Furthermore,
it was told that the Ombudsman has yet to finalize new guidelines on the
release of the SALN of the President and other high officials.
What
happened to the much-vaunted anticorruption and transparency stance of the
Duterte administration, with the highest official of the land appearing to lead
the effort to subvert the rules and stymie public scrutiny of a vital document
required by the Constitution?
And
what new guidelines does the Office of the Ombudsman need for the SALN to be
released, when year in and year out for the last three decades, this instrument
of public accountability and safeguard against corruption had been routinely
released to the media and the public?
The
law establishing the public’s right to
this annual exercise in transparency can’t be any clearer. Article XI, Section 17 of the Constitution says all public officers and
employees are required to submit a declaration of their assets, liabilities and
net worth under oath, and that the SALN be “disclosed to the public in the
manner provided by law.”
2. Fiscal and Economic Mismanagement
COA
Report: P254M Went to ‘Error-Filled’ DepEd Books
By:
Patricia Denise M. Chiu - Reporter / @PDMChiuINQ
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 06:55 AM August 09, 2019
Gov’t Borrowings Jump 82.5%
P615B
borrowed from local sources, P225.5B from foreign lenders in first 6 months
By:
Ben O. de Vera - Reporter / @bendeveraINQ
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:36 AM August 22, 2019
Heavy-Handed
Government
By:
Cielito F. Habito - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:25 AM August 23, 2019
Slowdown in Foreign
Investments
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:08 AM August 27, 2019
PSA’s
Assessment: A Failing Grade for PH
By:
Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM August 31, 2019
https://opinion.inquirer.net/123650/psas-assessment-a-failing-grade-for-ph#ixzz6SSKLoIQa
“Address Fiscal Problem Now,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:08 AM September 30, 2019:
“Address Fiscal Problem Now,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:08 AM September 30, 2019:
“Criminal
and Abominable,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:09 AM September 24, 2019:
Public domain image
ReplyDeleteImage link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherdombres/7412455010
Gonzalinho
DUTERTE SHOULD WALK THE TALK ON CORRUPTION
ReplyDeletePhilippine Daily Inquirer / 05:01 AM June 04, 2020
Stephen Monsanto’s call for the suspension of “obscene” compensation to highly paid public officials (“Gov’t can save money by freezing ‘irrelevant’ officials,” Letters, 5/26/20) whose “services” as “public servants” have become irrelevant or useless in the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic, should first and foremost be about the pork barrel of congressmen and senators.
Said to be worth about P84 billion hidden in plain sight in this year’s national budget (“Lacson seeks realignment of ‘pork insertions’ to soften blow of pandemic,” 4/27/20), imagine how much food that kind of money would bring to the tables of millions of Filipinos out of work since the nationwide lockdown was enforced more than two months ago, and which could last till the end of the year—or, as President Duterte himself has told the nation, until a vaccine is found (which scientists predict could take another year).
With most public works and projects at a standstill, and the alleged “P10-billion pork barrel scam queen” Janet Lim Napoles and her ilk out of “commission,” all that money has just been lying around largely unused or underutilized (“for later release,” i.e., when happy days are here again). The government continues to panhandle for donations from the private sector because it says it’s almost flat-broke. Yet it remains blind to the racket that Congress has always been up to with the people’s money.
President Duterte keeps saying he hates corruption in government or even just a “whiff” of it. It’s high time he started walking all that talk. And what better way to do that than by removing all pork barrel insertions in the budget and keeping them far away from the reach of dirty politicians? However, it’s not a question of “can he do that,” but “will he do that” (and risk losing the support of lapdogs?).
Margie Megan Librando
m_m_libra@yahoo.com
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/130432/duterte-should-walk-the-talk-on-corruption#ixzz6THkvpCcs
Pork barrel is a major source of massive corruption in the legislature which the president co-opts.
It is difficult to see how massive corruption in the Philippine system can be effectively reformed without substantially reducing or eliminating pork barrel.
Gonzalinho